Date of Conviction: 22/04/1822 

Age at Conviction: 23

Crime Convicted of: Theft

Court Convicted at: Lancaster Quarter Sessions (held at the New Bailey, Salford)

Sentence Length: 7 Years

Ship Transported on: Mary (1)

Where Arrived: Hobart, Van Diemen’s Land

Departure Date: 03/06/1823

Arrival Date: 05/10/1823

Biography: Mary (and others) stole a watch and money from Thomas Cooper, an export officer at Manchester. Mary was part of a large criminal gang; she worked as a prostitute who then directed the male members of her group to burst in and rob her customers of their belongings and money. The theft took place in a property in Angel Meadow; one of the worst slum areas in Manchester nicknamed ‘Hell on Earth’.

Mary was born in Salford and described as having a pale complexion with light grey eyes, brown hair, a scar on her upper lip near her nostril. Upon her conviction she was ‘large with child and has had two before’, though was a single woman. She had two past convictions.

In Tasmania, Mary was assigned as a servant to a Thomas Davis. She married John Johnston (free) in May 1826 at Hobart. She has a completely blank convict record and (for now) disappears off all the available sources after this time.